# What's the quickest after meeting someone that you've found yourself in a "serious" relationship? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 4, 2010, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-quickest-after-meeting-someone-that-youve-found-yourself-in-a-serious-relationship/538261 "2010-05-04T05:15:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-quickest-after-meeting-someone-that-youve-found-yourself-in-a-serious-relationship/538261/21 "2010-05-04T21:11:16Z")
Groovy story, dude. ---
**Author:** ![lezlers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-quickest-after-meeting-someone-that-youve-found-yourself-in-a-serious-relationship/538261/22 "2010-05-04T21:46:54Z")
Met my boyfriend on [match.com](http://match.com). Emailed back and forth for a week or two. Met for coffee one Friday afternoon. Met for lunch Sunday of the following week. Went out to dinner that following Friday, which turned into Saturday and Sunday. He asked that Sunday evening if he could change his facebook status. Awww. Moved in together 5 months later. Total time elapsed from meeting in person to “in a relationship” facebook status: 2 weeks. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-quickest-after-meeting-someone-that-youve-found-yourself-in-a-serious-relationship/538261/23 "2010-05-04T22:32:21Z")
You guys are interpreting “serious” as “boyfriend/girlfriend”? That isn’t how I interpreted it at all. ---
**Author:** ![lezlers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-quickest-after-meeting-someone-that-youve-found-yourself-in-a-serious-relationship/538261/24 "2010-05-04T22:37:32Z")
I interpret serious as exclusive and holding yourself out to the world as partners, i.e: boyfriend/girlfriend. Only place left to go from there is engagement/marriage. ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-quickest-after-meeting-someone-that-youve-found-yourself-in-a-serious-relationship/538261/25 "2010-05-04T23:15:38Z")
Met Ms Hook in November and asked her to marry me on New Years. Come July 1 it will be 42 years. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-quickest-after-meeting-someone-that-youve-found-yourself-in-a-serious-relationship/538261/26 "2010-05-04T23:43:57Z")
> [@lezlers](#): > > I interpret serious as exclusive and holding yourself out to the world as partners, i.e: boyfriend/girlfriend. Only place left to go from there is engagement/marriage. Then I change my answer to one day. Also, I’ve been in a bunch of “serious” relationships. ---
**Author:** ![lezlers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-quickest-after-meeting-someone-that-youve-found-yourself-in-a-serious-relationship/538261/27 "2010-05-04T23:51:35Z")
How do _you_ define a “serious” relationship **AClockWorkMelon**? ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-quickest-after-meeting-someone-that-youve-found-yourself-in-a-serious-relationship/538261/28 "2010-05-04T23:56:49Z")
> [@lezlers](#): > > How do _you_ define a “serious” relationship **AClockWorkMelon**? At the point when, if your friends ask “is it serious?” you respond “yeah.” 😛 But seriously, my definition hinges on the emotional aspect, I guess. I’ve been in a bunch of relationships, but only in one where I had a serious (hence “serious relationship”) emotional connection to the person I was with. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-quickest-after-meeting-someone-that-youve-found-yourself-in-a-serious-relationship/538261/29 "2010-05-05T00:01:30Z")
With my wife we told each other we loved each other after about 2 weeks, were essentially living together after about 3 weeks, officially living together after 3 months, engaged after 1 year and married a little over a year after that, our first child was born a little over a year after that. I think that covers you for almost all variations on “serious” you might want to think of. But, if you want just boyfriend/girlfriend status. I have an ex that became my exclusive girlfriend somewhere during the course of our first (72 hour long it would turn out) date. That one only lasted about 4 months though and the data is a bit skewed because we were both coming off of recent breakups from very long term relationships. ---
**Author:** ![lezlers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-quickest-after-meeting-someone-that-youve-found-yourself-in-a-serious-relationship/538261/30 "2010-05-05T00:01:49Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > At the point when, if your friends ask “is it serious?” you respond “yeah.” > > But seriously, my definition hinges on the emotional aspect, I guess. I’ve been in a bunch of relationships, but only in one where I had a serious (hence “serious relationship”) emotional connection to the person I was with. I guess I can see that. I was looking at it in a more linear way, breaking it down into specific stages. Flirting Casual Dating Exclusive Dating/Relationship Cohabitating Engaged Married Since you can be in a serious relationship before cohabitation, I stuck it in the “exclusive dating/relationship” category. I see your point, though. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-quickest-after-meeting-someone-that-youve-found-yourself-in-a-serious-relationship/538261/31 "2010-05-05T00:08:42Z")
> [@lezlers](#): > > I guess I can see that. I was looking at it in a more linear way, breaking it down into specific stages. > > Flirting > Casual Dating > Exclusive Dating/Relationship > Cohabitating > Engaged > Married > > Since you can be in a serious relationship before cohabitation, I stuck it in the “exclusive dating/relationship” category. > > I see your point, though. Flirting Casual Dating Exclusive Dating Serious Relationship Cohabitating Engaged Married Divorced 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-quickest-after-meeting-someone-that-youve-found-yourself-in-a-serious-relationship/538261/32 "2010-05-05T00:53:44Z")
Glad I didn’t skew the curve; I just am not attracted to that many men, much the less having them attracted back, so…by the time there’s flirting, it’s already probably serious. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-quickest-after-meeting-someone-that-youve-found-yourself-in-a-serious-relationship/538261/33 "2010-05-05T01:29:44Z")
Well I had him planned as a one night stand, he called two days later and came over. Then two days after that. Then pretty much every night after that for the next two weeks he was in town, then he left. Since I had just dodged a bullet and an engagement ring, I was glad for a no-strings spring-fling. We said goodbye, see you in a few months. Then he called me the first night he was away. And every night after that for a whole week, until he decided just to quit his travelling job and move here. He’s been here three years. Total time from meet to move-in planned was about 24 days. (He finished his last contract so it ended up 6 weeks until he moved in) So I voted for less than a month but more than a week. If you ask him though, it was less than a week. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-quickest-after-meeting-someone-that-youve-found-yourself-in-a-serious-relationship/538261/34 "2010-05-05T01:39:32Z")
Things would have moved much more quickly, I think, if we’d been living in the same time zone when we first met. (I’m counting first in-person meeting here; we’d known each other online for years before that, and I had a hunch I would have a honking huge crush on him in person, but at least for me, I don’t think it’s possible to know whether the attraction will stick in person until that point.) First in-person meeting to the first thing that one might really call a “date” - about a month (stupid time zones!) We pretty much knew right away that it was going to be serious - from first “date” until he moved cross-country in with me was about 2 months (and planned on a week’s notice). In the middle, we racked up more than a thousand minutes a month on the phone to each other, plus e-mails, etc. We got married last September, and this Memorial Day weekend will be the third anniversary of that first in-person meeting. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![bubba\_jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@bubba\_jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubba_jr)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-quickest-after-meeting-someone-that-youve-found-yourself-in-a-serious-relationship/538261/35 "2010-05-05T03:01:46Z")
From first ‘romantic’ encounter on a Tuesday at 5pm, until a monogamous relationship was determined, 24 hours. I was supposed to be at work at 5am, but somehow didn’t leave until 5pm Wednesday (and I was SOOOOORE). As I was about to leave, she said, “we need to do this again”, and then as I was about to walk out the door “you know I don’t do sloppy seconds, right?”. Instant relationship, but I’d known her for years, just never in “that” way. Quickest move in from actually meeting for the first time ever to moving in together, 6 weeks, biggest mistake of my life. Current girlfriend, and probably future wife, (not 1st wife, only wife), after about 4 weeks asked me the dumbest question I’ve ever heard in my life. “Can I tell people that you’re my boyfriend?”. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-quickest-after-meeting-someone-that-youve-found-yourself-in-a-serious-relationship/538261/36 "2010-05-05T05:05:06Z")
I met my current partner on the Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend 19 years ago. By July 4th we had rented a house together; we had spent almost all the time together in between. I had my reservations at first, but I was just finishing up 2 years in therapy and I was very receptive to new experiences, and I thought to myself “what’s the worst that can happen? It won’t work out, and we’ll break up. It won’t be the first time.” I don’t know if it would have happened that way at any other time in my life. Did I mention that we’re still together and very happy 19 years later? Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Teacake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Teacake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teacake)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-quickest-after-meeting-someone-that-youve-found-yourself-in-a-serious-relationship/538261/37 "2010-05-05T19:04:21Z")
My ex - we met on a Saturday at about lunchtime, went out on Saturday night, I was slightly astonished but very happy to hear “I love you” on the phone the next day, and we were instantly in a serious relationship, with the proposal coming IIRC about two weeks later. We remained so for about three years (cohabiting, wearing the rings etc), and are still very good friends more than a decade later. In contrast my current partner and I had known each other for more than two years before I finally managed to make myself irresistible! And we’ll be at ten years in two weeks’ time. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-quickest-after-meeting-someone-that-youve-found-yourself-in-a-serious-relationship/538261/38 "2010-05-05T19:41:10Z")
My partner and I both have identical recollections of the moment we met. It can be summed up as “Oh god, I hope he feels the same way I do.” We spent that entire weekend together, without leaving the apartment. And 22 years later we both still feel the same way. ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-quickest-after-meeting-someone-that-youve-found-yourself-in-a-serious-relationship/538261/39 "2010-05-06T03:11:53Z")
We met up and stayed out talking until the coffee shop closed at 4 am. Then we moved to IHOP and stayed there until 9 am. He was getting his furniture delivered to his apartment, where he’d just arrived a week earlier, so we went to meet the movers. We both skipped work the next day, and have been around eachother pretty much 24/7 since then. It’s been great! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-quickest-after-meeting-someone-that-youve-found-yourself-in-a-serious-relationship/538261.md?page=1)